Women in Industrial Design Show 2014

The San Francisco Design Week debut seeks entrants

At this year's San Francisco Design Week (13-20 June 2014), an inaugural event will honor 15 female designers across two categories—up and coming and professionals. Sponsored by the Women in Industrial Design division of IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America), the Women in Industrial Design Show 2014 will showcase work ranging from full production to conceptual. Moreover, from now until 10 March 2014, the show is accepting submissions for entry from across the United States.

CH spoke with Ti Chang, the designer behind the brilliant line of sleekly-designed Incoqnito pleasure toys. Her role as the Vice Chair of the Women in Design section of IDSA lead to her heading the event's organization. As for the show's inception, she explains, "The short answer to the origin of the founding of this Women in Industrial Design show was simply inspired by the under representation of Women in Industrial Design in the media."

She notes that "When we think of famous industrial designers, names like Jony Ive, Philippe Starck and Yves Behar quickly come to mind, but rarely do we read stories about women designers such as Isabelle Olsson (lead designer of Google glass)." One day Chang was researching a list of industrial designers and noticed that, following the Late Modernism period (1950-1975), "there wasn't a single woman industrial designer included." This struck a chord. "I was shocked. Obviously there have been more women entering the workforce since then, so why were they not listed? I decided to take matters into my own hands and made my first Wikipedia edit and added Betony Vernon, Greta Von Nessen and Belle Kogan." From there, she formed a meetup ground in San Francisco for women in the field. The show was born from this group. "We thought this would be a great way to elevate women industrial designers and with SFDesignWeek coming up, the timing couldn't have been better." Chang pitched the idea to IDSA, who provided further support and great enthusiasm.

"I hope we will receive entries that show the breadth of modern industrial design from consumer products, furniture, medical devices, to home goods and even conceptual work," says Chang. Impressively, IDSA and Chang have conceived of an event that's more than a stage for new, dynamic work. It will also serve as a meeting place for engagement and conversation, with an educated design audience at its core. "The last women in ID show was 20 years ago," Chang notes. "A lot has changed since then, so I hope the work we receive is reflective of the time we are in right now and the exciting future ahead."

You can submit your work for free online. Winners will be announced on 2 April 2014.